Ninja Chronicles No 1: The Baby Killer
by Nic Rosenthal
Summary: While Drew, Dustin and Caleb are away on mission to negotiate a peace treaty in the Middle East, Ethan, Kimmie and Kandace must navigate a plot by Max Shipley to recruit a high-profile citizen acquitted of murder charges.


**POWER RANGERS: NINJA CHRONICLES**

**No. 1 - The Baby Killer**

**By Nic Rosenthal**

_Prelude: The story so far..._

_Millenia ago, when colossal dinosaurs roamed the earth, a time-traveling Cherokee sorcerer, named Ma-Tik, ventured to their time to study their ways and harvest their DNA. The witch doctor barely managed to escape several fatal asteroid collisions, which would send Earth into an ice age and spell certain doom for his subjects. Using special strains of genetic material he had collected from ten different species of dinosaurs and other ancient creatures, Ma-Tik infused life and power into seven magic coins and three gems, which could be used to transform their bearers into mighty warriors._

_Soon after arriving back in his own time, Ma-Tik learned that his nation had come under attack from a rival tribe. Even with their large numbers, the Cherokee were a peaceful people, with little military influence in the eastern part of what would someday become the United States of America. After learning most of the people in his village had been wiped out, the witch doctor fell into a deep depression and decided to abandon his tribe. Not wishing that they should perish, he left a single coin from his collection of artifacts-the one infused with the DNA of the green sea dragon-with his closest friend, Re-Gachu, in addition to the three power gems, which he had not yet finished experimenting with. _

_After showing Re-Gachu how to become one with the powers of the green dragon, Ma-Tik jumped through time yet again, landing in feudal Japan in the year 1301, where he met the newly-crowned Emperor Kuniharu. When the sovereign learned of the witch doctor's artifacts, he insisted that Ma-Tik equip his Kugyo-a group of the most elite war generals in the world at that time-with mighty powers to cement his empire's place as the world's only superpower. Excited that his magic could finally be used for a positive change, Ma-Tik took his remaining six coins to Mount Fuji and conjured the spirits of six mythical Japanese beasts. Once the idols manifested at the volcano's summit, he harnessed their energies and infused them into his coins, strengthening their powers with the very essences of thunder and lightning._

_For seven years, the Kugyo used Ma-Tik's power coins, commanding the empire's military forces with incredible displays of power and forcing other nations to their knees, often causing destruction to millions of lives and hundreds of tribes in the eastern portion of the world in the process. Seeing other nations suffer as his own people did, Ma-Tik began to doubt that giving his coins to the Kugyo was the right decision. With each new order to plunder and destroy new nations, the witch doctor became angrier with Emperor Kuniharu. One cold winter night, the sorcerer cursed the sovereign with a mysterious disease with no known cure, and warned his advisers that his evil ways would bring about the Japanese nation's undoing. The disease ended up killing the emperor, and as the members of the Kugyo slept on the night of Kuniharu's death, Ma-Tik stole away through time with his mystic coins once again._

_Little is known about Ma-Tik's travels following his exit from feudal Japan in 1308, but the witch doctor returned to his homeland sometime in the late 1980s, only to find a modern America and little to no trace of his scattered people. He met Maximilion Shipley in 1988, after the billionaire took over a fledgling nuclear plant in Erwin, Tennessee. Like Emperor Kuniharu, Shipley wanted to take advantage of Ma-Tik's unique gifts and asked that the sorcerer join him in an effort to bring about a supposed new world order and universal peace for all men. Seeing the state of the world at that time, Ma-Tik agreed and handed over the power coins. He helped Shipley's team of advanced scientists take the power inside his coins to new heights, creating specialized armor, weapons and vehicles, which were tied to their energies, for a new team of warriors to lead the so-called peace effort._

_Shipley's plans were set back when the research lab at his nuclear plant was infiltrated a year later by members of the Helios Council, a powerful group of fighters who discovered the businessman's true plan for destroying the modern world in hopes of establishing the "American Empire" and setting himself up as emperor. Of the ten warriors who broke into Shipley Nuclear on Christmas night, only two survived the operation. Amy Edwards and Karla Keesecker, recent inductees into the Helios order, stole Ma-Tik's power coins, as well as mounds of paperwork explaining the witch doctor's research with Shipley's scientists._

_Once safely away, Amy and Karla remained anonymous to Shipley and went to work setting up a base of operations from which to foil his future plans. Although his nuclear facility continued to operate and flourish in the town, the two of them gained intelligence that Shipley and his sorcerer had fled the area. They knew it wouldn't be long before he came up with another scheme to rule. Using the research they had stolen, the pair learned about the powers inside Ma-Tik's artifacts and built a device that could transport them into a sort of virtual reality, where the arsenal Shipley's scientists had created to go along with the coins could be stored when not in use. They decided to store the power coins there also, for safekeeping, and dubbed the space "the Morphing Grid." Knowing they could not wield the power of the coins alone, Amy and Karla decided to keep an eye on special young people in the area, agreeing they would call on them should Shipley ever return to cause trouble._

_And return he did...nearly twenty years later, in May of 2009, after he, Ma-Tik, and a team of researchers and expert engineers returned from the former location of Ma-Tik's original Cherokee tribe. They had discovered a secret stash that had belonged to Ma-Tik's friend Re-Gachu and, with it, the location of the previously lost power gems and the green power coin. While they were away, the group also devised a number of practical and militant tools for achieving Shipley's goals without alerting the public that he was behind an effort to overthrow the balance of the world. He and his team had harnessed radioactive uranium and a host of other materials to create an army of human-robot hybrid creatures, which he decided to call "radites."_

_Shipley's first test of power was to unleash a battalion of his radite creatures upon the local high school's graduation ceremonies. Amy and Karla, who had become high school teachers in order to keep their eye on four potential warriors to join them in using the power coins, had believed Shipley to be gone forever and had become too old to assume the powers themselves. In the chaos of the attack, they nabbed the three students from the graduating class they had been watching-Kimmie, Ryan and Drew-as well as a previous graduate, Dustin, who had left the school three years earlier. As the group attempted to fight their way through the confused crowd, the radites continued their assault, killing dozens of citizens in the packed gymnasium. One other brave student who had been in the audience watching, Kandace, stood alongside Amy and Karla and their team to fight off the radites. A younger student named Caleb leaped from the gallery where the concert band was set up and helped fight back the creatures as well._

_At just the right moment, Amy and Karla made the difficult choice to leave the fight with their new warriors, warping them away to their secret base via teleportation technology they had devised years ago. They knew time was running out and that many more people would die if they didn't hurry. They explained the basics of their knowledge to the six teens, who had no time to address their disbelief and reluctance. Drew, Ryan, Kandace, Dustin, Kimmie and Caleb assumed the abilities and strengths of the power coins, each unique and different according to the dinosaur DNA and thunder power contained within the coins, and returned to the gymnasium in powerful armor and wielding an awe-inspiring arsenal of weapons and tools, with which they defeated the radite army. Although approximately 200 of the town's citizens and graduates died in the battle, Shipley and the rest of the world became aware of the presence of the heroes known as the Power Rangers._

_In the aftermath of the fight, Shipley set up an impenetrable base inside his nuclear plant yet again and ordered Ma-Tik and his team to work on solutions for defeating the rangers-his newest stumbling block on the road to world domination. Throughout the rest of the summer and into the fall season that year, the witch doctor conjured a host of horrifying demons from his tribe's folklore and unleashed them on the town, in hopes of exploiting a weakness in his own powerful coins, which the rangers now possessed. In the meantime, he and the scientists worked to finish what he had started many years ago by infusing life and power into the three power gems. It was Shipley's hope that a powerful team of his own rangers could stand against the Council of Helios' team._

_In the winter of 2009, Ma-Tik unleashed his deadliest creation yet-the dreaded Seether Demon, who could send out brainwaves and control entire populations of citizens, including the Power Rangers, and will them to do his master's bidding. When the demon lured the white ranger to Shipley Nuclear by capturing his first love, Andie, Drew realized the girl was not who she claimed to be, and was actually working for Shipley. Using information gleaned from the Seether's mind, Shipley at last learned the true identities of the Power Rangers. While in captivity, Drew suffered at the hands of the Seether Demon, as well as Andie, who had pretended to be his friend. Her true purpose, however, was to lead a team of Dark Rangers, who drew their power from Ma-Tik's power gems. She had already assumed the mantle of the violet ranger, and the witch doctor had begun a search for two other evil rangers._

_In the meantime, it was Andie's mission to strip the white ranger of his powers and brainwash him into taking the green power coin, which had previously belonged to Re-Gachu. When the violet ranger threatened to blow up the town's high school, with Amy, Karla, Caleb and Kandace inside it at the time, Drew had no choice but to succumb. He gave up the white power coin and became the evil green ranger. Together, Andie, Drew and the Seether Demon launched a series of attacks on the five remaining Power Rangers, now led by Dustin, that carried into the spring of the next year. Not realizing that Drew was in fact the enemy's newest ranger, the rest of the team believed he had deserted them. With Shipley's enhanced army of radites backing them, the violet and green rangers, as well as the Seether, overwhelmed the Power Rangers. Shipley took advantage of their weakened state and began launching larger-scale attacks on bigger cities throughout the country and across the globe. One such battle in the United Kingdom pitted the rangers against Shipley's evil green ranger. At the conclusion of the fight, after the green ranger left the others weak and in need of rejuvenation, Drew revealed his identity to the rangers at last, stunning them. Before they could reason with him, the green ranger disappeared, threatening their doom._

_Strapped for new ways of doing battle, Amy, Karla and the Power Rangers discovered information in Ma-Tik's stolen journals that described his time in Japan. Using this information, they unlocked the mystical thunder powers within their power coins, which had been intentionally suppressed by Ma-Tik following Emperor Kuniharu's death in 1308. In order to combat Shipley's growing attacks, the team also engineered and created large vehicles inside the Morphing Grid based on Ma-Tik's mythical creatures, which they dubbed the "Thunderzords."_

_In the late spring of 2010, using the Thunder Megazord, the Power Rangers were finally able to defeat the Seether Demon over Chicago, after it wreaked havoc on the busy city, killing hundreds of thousands. Once home, the rangers were able to enjoy some quiet time, as Shipley decided to lay low and scheme following the Seether's defeat. Despite Amy and Karla's orders to rest and build up strength, the black and blue rangers disabled their communicators and embarked on a secret mission into Shipley Nuclear to capture and retrieve the green ranger and steal the white power coin back from Ma-Tik. When they arrived, they found Drew in a weakened state, held prisoner in the sewer tunnels beneath the nuclear plant. Once they were able to revive him, Drew explained that Shipley and Ma-Tik took the green power coin away from him and were using it to power a nuclear device whose energy was capable of vaporizing carbon-based lifeforms._

_When Shipley learned Ryan and Dustin had come for Drew, as he had hoped they would, he dispatched Andie to kidnap members of Ryan's family and threatened to test his vaporizing device on them first if the rangers did not retreat. Alerted to the kidnappings, Kandace, Kimmie and Caleb morphed to the nuclear plant and fought a confusing battle against Andie, Ma-Tik and hundreds of Shipley's radites. Kimmie and Kandace located a weakened Drew and had Amy and Karla teleport him to safety. Later, Kandace broke into Shipley's office and found the white power coin, but the force field protecting it powered down her ranger armor when she retrieved it. Shipley and a group of radites met her in the office and she was impaled through the shoulder by a radite spear. She was teleported out of the office and back to the Power Chamber just before another critical blow from Shipley._

_Meanwhile, the other rangers learned Shipley had fled the nuclear plant after activating the green power coin and his vaporizing device to send out a destructive wave capable of reducing Erwin to rubble and killing all of its inhabitants. Ryan's family members, who were bound and gagged inside the sealed chamber where the device was situated, became infected with deadly radiation. Realizing they were in danger, Ma-Tik latched on to Andie and jumped through time with her to avoid the destructive explosion. Making a last-minute decision, Kimmie, Dustin and Caleb sent Ryan to carry Drew to safety at the Power Chamber. Once the black ranger was safely away with Drew, the remaining rangers made the impossible choice to destroy the vaporizing device with Ryan's family still inside the chamber and teleported away as Shipley's entire research complex exploded, destroying the device, as well as the green power coin._

_In the aftermath of the battle, Drew was nursed back to health, his white ranger powers restored to him at last. Kimmie, Caleb and Dustin made a pact to tell no one that the decision to incinerate the device was their own. Crushed at the news of his family's deaths, Ryan fell into a deep depression. Sorrowful for his friend's loss, and feeling guilty, Dustin invited Ryan to stay with him during the summer until the black ranger could find his way alone. One stormy night, Ryan was abducted by a mysterious new villain known as the Black Widow, who the Rangers later learned was working for Shipley, following the relentless businessman's return to Shipley Nuclear a mere two weeks after the explosion that destroyed a large part of the plant._

_Struggling to regain his status as the team's leader, Drew began clashing with Dustin over how best to proceed with getting Ryan back from Shipley's clutches. Meanwhile, Kimmie obsessed over her guilt from not telling Ryan the truth about what happened to his family, and vowed to tell him everything if they were able to rescue him. A weakened team of Power Rangers faced off against the Black Widow and her army of minions, finding her a force to be reckoned with. The team later learned that Ma-Tik and Andie had returned to Shipley, along with two new Dark Rangers, who had assumed the powers of the remaining power gems. Using their new Thunder Cannon, the Power Rangers were able to vanquish the Black Widow, but the violet, navy and crimson Dark Rangers-Andie, along with brothers Ethan and Logan-materialized on the scene moments after their victory and destroyed the cannon._

_A heated battle between the Power Rangers and Dark Rangers escalated into the mountainous regions of the town, and the Dark Rangers called upon the powers of the ancient dinosaurs, whose DNA powered their gems. Three large prehistoric beasts threatened to eliminate the rangers until Drew called forth his new White Tigerzord. Alongside Caleb in the Red Dragon Thunderzord, Drew battled the three Dark Rangers while Kimmie, Kandace and Dustin acted on a tip as to Ryan's whereabouts. They found the black ranger in an abandoned furniture warehouse in a neighboring city, closely guarded by a legion of radites._

_Once inside, the rangers were attacked by the radites, as well as Ma-Tik and Shipley's navy ranger, Ethan. During the struggle, Kimmie was able to free Ryan, who morphed into action to help battle back against Shipley's forces. Later in the fight, the blue ranger was able to garner the upper hand against the navy Dark Ranger, who was clearly inexperienced in close combat. Dustin was able to remove the power gem from Ethan's belt, which caused the navy ranger to power down and lose consciousness. Stunned to see that one of their close friends had become a Dark Ranger, Dustin held on to the gem and had Amy and Karla teleport Ethan to the Power Chamber for medical care. _

_Just as the Power Rangers had nearly cleared out the radites, Ma-Tik placed Ryan in a magical bind and revealed to him via a telepathic memory that the red, yellow and blue Power Rangers had in fact been responsible for the deaths of his family members. Despite pleas for forgiveness from Kimmie and Dustin for lying to him the whole time, Ryan became enraged and turned his back on the Power Rangers. He helped Ma-Tik overpower Dustin and took the navy gem from his possession. Just before the witch doctor jumped through time yet again, Ryan discarded his black power coin and disappeared with the sorcerer, vowing to seek his vengeance on the rangers for what they had done._

_After a long standoff with Drew and Caleb, Andie and Logan called off the dinosaur beasts and retreated back to Shipley. When the rangers regrouped at the Power Chamber, Dustin and Kimmie revealed that Ryan had discovered the truth about his family and had left with Ma-Tik. Despite friction within the team due to the dishonesty of the three rangers, the rangers made a new commitment never to dishonor each other's trust again, and swore on their coins to remain faithful to each other's friendships._

_A few days later, after Ethan had been revived by the rangers' trusted friend Emily within the Power Chamber, the former navy ranger said he could not remember his time under Shipley's control and deeply regretted fighting against his friends. With Ryan now allied with Ma-Tik and Shipley, Amy and Karla decided to endow Ethan with the powers of the black power coin. After weeks of discussion about the slight weaknesses of the coins against Shipley's newest efforts, the decision was made to retire the Thunderzords and seek out Ma-Tik's fabled ninja asylums-two secret refuges in rural Japan where, following his disappearance from Kuniharu's court, the witch doctor supposedly stored knowledge of how to access spiritual powers tied to the ancient ninjas of the Japanese nation._

_After equipping the Power Chamber with a new communications system containing algorithms created from her own brainwaves to assist Emily in her absence (a system Emily dubbed "2K"), Karla, embarked with Dustin, Drew and Kimmie into the mountainous highlands of Japan, seeking the Woodland Asylum. At the same time, Amy took Caleb, Kandace and Ethan to a more tropical region in search of the Jungle Asylum. Realizing his sanctuaries, as well as the legendary Ninjoku animals, were in danger of being discovered and that the Power Rangers might try to infuse extra power into their power coins, Ma-Tik dispatched radites and another of his nightmarish creatures to Japan to stop the heroes. Before the witch doctor's henchmen were able to reach them, both sets of rangers were able to locate the asylums and seal them off, making the sanctuaries impossible to find for anyone without a power coin._

_While inside the asylums, Amy and Karla each guided their respective Power Rangers in ceremonies linking them to the Ninjoku animal spirits and forging a more permanent connection between the rangers and their power coins, which changed to reflect the silhouettes of the rangers' new animal symbols. While the coins still contained the brute power of the dinosaurs and the thunder beasts, the new infusion of ninja abilities would help create a more balanced team of rangers, divided into the reconnaissance team (Drew, Dustin and Kimmie) and the strike team (Caleb, Ethan and Kandace)._

_When the Power Rangers emerged from their asylums, they were sent on quests to find and tame the reluctant Ninjoku animals, which Ma-Tik had abused years ago when creating the asylums. Once the rangers found their beasts and befriended them, Karla and Amy offered the Ninjoku shelter from Ma-Tik's wrath inside the Morphing Grid. A deal was made between the rangers and the Ninjoku that, in exchange for shelter from the witch doctor, the Ninjoku would lend their might and powers to the creation of a new set of colossal vehicles for the rangers, known as Ninjazords. Once the rangers, along with Amy and Karla, reunited at Okinawa to prepare for the journey home, Shipley ordered Ma-Tik, his creature and the radites to attack the team._

_The initial battle for the new ninja Power Rangers served to prove the effectiveness of their new powers, which enabled them to morph into the garb of traditional shinobi ninjas and infused their bodies with speed and precision, and powerful new abilities that they could only access as ninja-rangers. However, as the rangers battled the Navok Demon, Ma-Tik and a group of radites closed in around Amy and Karla. As the rangers' mentors did their best to fend off their enemies, the team morphed into their traditional battle armor to raise the stakes of the battle. But they were too late. By the time the rangers were able to summon their new Ninja Sabers, Ma-Tik had knocked Amy to the ground, where she lay unconscious, and had stabbed Karla through the heart with a poisonous blade._

_The Power Rangers immediately summoned the Ninjoku to the scene. Terrified at the thought of being confronted by his former test subjects, Ma-Tik fled the battle along with the radites, leaving his Navok creature to fend for itself. The rangers combined their Ninja Sabers and were able to destroy the demon. In a hurried frenzy to try and save their mentor's life, the rangers revived Amy, retrieved Karla's body and teleported back to the Power Chamber. Despite three long days of treatment and tireless effort on Emily and Amy's part, they were unable to save Karla from Ma-Tik's poison. At a loss, the team was surprised to learn that the artificial intelligence "2K" was capable of retaining all of Karla's memories and learning new information just as the human brain would. Although it was little consolation, the rangers rejoiced that some form of the fallen Karla's legacy would remain with them in the difficult times that were to come._

_Now, the Power Rangers prepare for the firestorm that will certainly come at the hands of Shipley, his powerful sorcerer Ma-Tik, their Dark Rangers and a legion of villains sworn to destroy their enemies in Shipley's continuing pursuit of his own new world order..._

_Chapter 1_

"I still can't believe this whack-job," Kimmie said with disgust as she and Kandace watched the TV screen from across the counter. Karla's Café was busier than usual for a Sunday, so there was no chance of hearing the news commentary that accompanied the images. But the blaring headline at the bottom of the screen was enough: ACQUITTED MOTHER WALKS FREE.

The girls watched as live cameras followed Catie Arnold through a brightly-lit foyer they knew to be part of the courthouse building in Orlando, Florida. The woman was free of handcuffs and surrounded by a throng of paparazzi, anxious police officers and angry, jeering citizens. Immediately surrounding her, though, was her team of attorneys and personal bodyguards.

"I honestly almost threw up watching this trial," Kandace responded. Images of Arnold's smiling face and a photo of her dead daughter were juxtaposed with the live feed on the channel.

"You and me both," Kimmie said, shaking her head. "Everybody knows she killed that little girl." The crowd of onlookers thickened as Arnold and her entourage neared the exit of the courthouse building.

The buzz of people's chatter inside the café seemed to grow louder, but few people were paying attention to the news. Conversations centered around sporting events, blurbs about the day's church services and lavish stories of what people had done with their weekends nearly drowned out the faint _boom_ that emanated from somewhere outside.

"Did you hear that?" Kimmie said, looking around with a confused stare.

"Yeah," Kandace agreed. "Felt it, too." Something was awry. But other people in the café didn't seem to notice. Moments later, the lights, television screens, radios and fans inside the cafe shut off in an instant. The noise of conversations turned into surprised gasps and sighs, and another faint _boom_ echoed neaby.

"Must have been a wreck," somebody close to the girls said aloud.

"Yeah, I don't think it's storming anywhere near here today," the person's friend said.

Almost perfectly on cue, Kimmie heard a familiar robotic signal coming from her wrist. She had hoped nothing out of the ordinary had happened, but the power going out seemed to dash that possibility. She looked at the full LCD display screen on her communicator. A yellow lightning bolt on a black background filled the screen and pulsated.

"Time to go to work," Kandace said, looking at her own communicator. Quickly, the girls moved away from their seats at the coffee bar and meandered through the crowd toward the café's rear corridor, where the restrooms were situated. When they arrived at the back of the hallway, they checked to see that they were not followed. Satisfied that they weren't, Kimmie pressed a side button on her communicator.

"Go ahead," she said. The clamor and confused din of people wandering around in the dark up front in the café echoed down the hallway.

"Guys, bad news in town," Emily said over the communicator channel. "There's been a huge explosion at the old Vesuvius rail yard tower a few blocks down."

"Shipley's handiwork?" Kandace asked, annoyed.

"We didn't think so at first," came a second voice, this one belonging to Amy, their mentor. "But a pack of radites just showed up at Fishery Park and they're ransacking the rabies vaccination clinic. Lots of people there."

"Great, so what do we do?" Kimmie asked, as she heard people in the front of the building begin to shout, "It's on fire!" and "Call 911!" in furies of panic.

"Kandace, your Ninjazord is armed with water cannons," Emily said. "You'll need to summon it to downtown and help first responders put the fire out. We've already sent Ethan inside the building to make sure everyone gets out safely."

"What about the park?" Kandace responded hastily.

"Kimmie, we'll have to send you there alone until Ethan and Kandace can get to you," Amy said, with a hint of disappointment. Kimmie knew she hated having to divide the team, and Dustin, Drew and Caleb were still negotiating a peace treaty in the Middle East. She had to give Shipley his due: he knew how to play the game of "divide and conquer."

"It's okay, Al," Kimmie said, using Amy's nickname to evoke a sense of lightheartedness. "I'll take care of them in no time."

"Teleport here for debriefing when you guys finish," Emily said with finality. "Let the Power protect you."

Kimmie pushed the side button again, deactivating the com channel. She checked the hallway one last time. "You ready to do this?" she asked Kandace, not even the slightest hint of fear in her voice.

"Always," Kandace said, "Good luck, girl."

Kandace moved her right hand so that it hovered just over her communicator. "It's morphin' time!" she said, as bolts of pink energy filled the space between her palm and her wrist and combined into a circular shape. The circle of energy materialized into a metallic pink coin. Kandace grasped the coin with her right hand and reached outward with her left. Her power morpher appeared out of thin air. She placed the pink coin inside the morpher and spun it out in front of her chest in an eccentric motion.

"Pink Ranger Power!" she cried, and suddenly, she was no longer standing in the corridor of the café. She was lifted from the floor in a pillar of pink light and teleported into a vacuum of nothingness-the Morphing Grid. The sound of electricity rung in her ears. She felt a surge of power that began at her feet. As it moved up her body, her clothes were replaced by strong, amethyst-colored armor. Her stylish flip-flops morphed into flame-retardant white boots with diamond-shaped patches that matched the color of the rest of her suit.

As the surge of power reached her chest, she felt it enhancing her muscle strength, heightening her senses and restoring balance to her body. A wave of pink electricity surged in front of her face, circled her head and emcompassed it inside a sturdy helmet. Her heads-up display flickered to life and her ranger suit's climate control functions switched on, automatically cooling her whole body. In a matter of seconds, Kandace had fully morphed into the pink ranger and rocketed back to reality, toward the inferno that awaited her only blocks away.

Kimmie, who was left standing alone in the corridor, had a different mission. She had never battled Shipley's radite creatures alone, but Amy and 2K had trusted her skills as a leader. This was a chance to prove them right, if anything.

"Ninja-Ranger power, now!" she shouted, moving her right arm in a sweeping, clockwise circle in front of her face. As she did, yellow electricity outlined the pattern and charged the air around her. She brought her left hand upward to meet the right, her index fingers aligning with the imaginary shape of a balanced chakra, pointing in opposite directions. The yellow energy culminated into a single beam, which flowed between her fingers.

Kimmie felt herself being pulled, light as air, from the floor of the hallway. A rush of energy began at the top of her head and replaced her clothes with loose, yellow linen. A white belt with gold-studded diamonds lined her waist, and her face was covered with a traditional ninja balaclava. She felt her powers of agility and inner strength reach their apex once she was fully clothed in her shozoku robes, and teleported out of the Morphing Grid toward the fiasco at Fishery Park.

Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away, outside a crowded Orlando courthouse building, Catie Arnold made her way toward a parked limousine that had been waiting for her for hours. Her attorneys and bodyguards fended off the relentless crowd as people threw rotten food at the acquitted woman and shouted obscenities at her.

"Miss Arnold, we'll be in touch in a few days," said a suited man next to her, as he shielded her head with his briefcase. "Are you sure you will be adequately protected with these people?"

"Yes, I'll be fine," Catie said hurriedly, shoving her way through her own entourage as the driver of the limo opened the back door for her. One daring crowd member attempted to run toward the open door, screaming at the top of his lungs as he lunged toward the opening. But one of the larger body guards in a plain black T-shirt lifted him by his polo using one strong hand and tossed him backwards. The man landed with a _thud_ on the white-hot concrete, and writhed in pain.

Catie ducked into the back of the limousine hastily, and the same bodyguard rushed to slam the door shut before anyone else could make a move. The limousine squealed its tires and sped off as onlookers dodged the front bumper to keep from being run over.

Inside the limo, Catie Arnold breathed a sigh of relief. "I did it," she said, out of breath. She took off her sunglasses and started removing the heavy black trench coat she had worn for protection.

"Just don't forget who really got you out of all this trouble," came a smooth voice from across the way. The young man who owned it sported short-cropped, spiked brown hair and was clothed in a lavish three-piece with freshly-shined shoes and dark sunglasses. His mouth curled into a smile. "And don't forget who's keeping you out of harm's way."

"Oh, I could never, baby" she said devilishly, a fiendish grin spreading over her face. She crawled across the seat toward him. When she reached him, she straddled his lap. He took her face in his hands and pulled her lips to his. After they kissed a few moments, she pulled away, still out of breath. Something had just occurred to her.

"So, I know Max could use my help," she said.

"That's Mr. Shipley to you," the younger man replied, leaning in to tease her with another quick kiss.

"Whatever," she said. "But besides a bed buddy, what exactly do you get out of all this?"

The man looked at her and removed his sunglasses slowly. His eyes bore into hers and his expression grew austere.

"I've got a score to settle with some old friends," he said, his voice laced with malice. "And you're the bait."


End file.
